SPRINGFIELD — Reluctant property owners who have not paid the city’s fire assessment fee may not have a say come November.
City commissioners are scheduled to discuss charging fees associated with bulking up Springfield’s fire services to property tax bills during their meeting Monday. About 33 percent of property owners have not paid their part of the nearly $477,000 raised for equipment and personnel the Springfield Fire Department required to keep its Insurance Services Inc. (ISO) rating of 6 out of 10, according to Mayor Ralph Hammond.
Fire assessment fees — $88.31 per tax parcel in addition to 62-cents per $1,000 of the taxable value of improvements (not including land value) — for 2014 will be issued late-March. If passed, the “uniform collection method” resolution could place any outstanding amounts on November’s tax bills.
“Anybody who still hasn’t paid last year’s (fee), that would go on the tax bill,” said Kevin Obos, city attorney. “From now on it could just go straight to the tax bill.”
Commissioners also will be considering a law punishing locations that repeatedly report false alarms requiring emergency services.
Springfield Police Chief Philip Thorne asked commissioners during a recent workshop to penalize property owners who repeatedly report false alarms requiring responses from emergency services. Police and/or Springfield Fire Department respond to 425 false alarms from alarm systems in businesses, schools and residences each year. Of that number, about four are legitimate, Thorne said.
In attempt to decrease the number of false alarm responses, up to six calls would be fined $50, up to nine calls would be fined $100 and at 10 calls a “no-dispatch” classification would be put in place. Hammond said the law would decrease false alarms and reduce the amount of time, man-power and wear on city vehicles.
“Once you impose a fee for response then they’re going to step up and get it corrected,” he said. “It’s not that we’re wanting to not respond, but it’s forcing them to set their policies where we don’t have to respond.”
Every call to 911 requires a response by emergency services, and the city is counting on the community to report any serious emergencies, like fires or burglaries, once the “no-dispatch” classification is reached.
“Once it’s declared a nuisance alarm they are put on a no respond and we are not held liable because it’s their issue,” Hammond said. “I have mixed feelings on it, but it puts the community at more of hazard when you have police or fire out there traveling at a high speed to get to a false alarm.”
The commission will convene in City Hall, 3529 E. 3rd St., Monday at 5:30 p.m.
The topic is set to come up again during a public hearing March 17 at 4 p.m. in the Springfield Community Center, 3728 E. Third St., when commission salaries also are set for discussion.